Laika
Medium-Size Humanoid Hit Dice: 1d8+1 (5 hp) Humanoids use d8 Hit Dice, so that’s already settled. I want a laika to have a single racial Hit Die, so that it can choose to trade that in for a class level, thus gaining all the same benefits that a character would get at 1st level. Initiative: +0 Speed: 30 ft. AC: 12 (+2 leather armor, +0 Dexterity) I assigned typical equipment to laikas, then determined their AC from that and their Dexterity. I chose leather armor because it has no armor proficiency penalty, and no hunter wants a penalty on Move Silently checks. Attacks: Bite +0 melee, or short sword +0 melee, or composite longbow +0 ranged Damage: Bite 1d4, shortsword 1d6/19–20, composite longbow 1d8/x3 A humanoid has the same base attack bonus progression as a cleric, so a 1-HD humanoid has a +0 BAB. The laika’s bite damage is standard for a Medium-size humanoid, and its weapons are those of a hunter. Face/Reach: 5 ft. by 5 ft./5 ft. Special Qualities: Laika traits As much as I would love to give laikas the scent special quality, doing so would mean that a 1st-level laika character could detect and possibly pinpoint invisible creatures. Such an advantage would certainly be worth a level adjustment. I could go back and change the race’s size to Small, but even a normal wolf is Medium-size, and a Small doglike humanoid seems sillier than I had in mind. See Laika Traits, below, for what I do want to give them. Saves: Fort +3, Ref +0, Will +0 Humanoids get one good save. Usually that’s Reflex, but we want laikas to be particularly tough and hardy, so I made Fortitude the good save and applied the Constitution bonus to its hit points. Abilities: Str 10, Dex 11, Con 13, Int 8, Wis 11, Cha 10 These scores give the laika ability adjustments of +2 Con and –2 Int. I think the bonus to Constitution is particularly powerful for a player character race. Every time a laika gains a class level, it benefits from the higher Constitution. However, the benefit isn’t not as powerful as a Strength bonus, so I’ll penalize only one other ability score. I could reduce Dexterity to balance the bonus, but a hunting creature would surely want the ability to use ranged weapons without penalty. I could also penalize Charisma, but then I would be duplicating the dwarf racial ability modifiers. Therefore, I chose to penalize Intelligence. Skills: Knowledge (nature) +2, Listen* +4, Spot +2, Wilderness Lore* +3 As a humanoid with an Intelligence score of 8, the laika is entitled to 4 skill points. First I chose the class skills that I figured were appropriate for the laika—the four given above. Then I spent its skill points, purchasing 3 ranks of Knowledge (nature) and 1 of Wilderness Lore. Because it’s canine in nature, I also assigned it a +2 racial bonus (see below) on Listen and Wilderness Lore checks. I already plan on giving it Alertness as its first feat, so the bonuses on Listen and Spot checks are included here as well. Feats: Alertness, Track (B). A laika is entitled to one feat, and I chose Alertness. I also gave it Track as a bonus feat, since it’s a hunting race. The rest of the stat block is meaningless for characters, but I’ve included it here for the sake of completeness. To create this section, I copied the information from the wolf entry in the Monster Manual but improved the treasure to Standard (reasonable for a humanoid) and set the advancement to “By character class.” Climate/Terrain: Any forest, hills, plains, and mountains Organization: Solitary, pair, or pack (7–16) Challenge Rating: 1 Treasure: Standard Alignment: Any neutral Advancement: By character class Laikas are explorers, adventurers, and hunters. Laika packs claim territories without regard for conventional political borders, and they roam throughout their lands in search of game. Although laika bards are uncommon, ordinary laikas love to sing together as a pack after their evening meal. A laika is the same height and weight as a human, and it ages approximately as fast as a half-orc. Its body is covered with silver, white, black, brown, or reddish fur, and its eyes are blue, yellow, or brown. A laika has a pronounced muzzle, triangular ears set high on its head, and a fur-covered tail. Laikas are very gregarious among their own kind, but they tend to be aloof when dealing with other races. Once a creature earns the trust of a laika pack, however, it can be informally adopted by the pack and treated as family. Laikas generally speak Common. Those with high enough Intelligence scores learn the languages of friends or foes in their territories. Combat Laikas prefer to attack in numbers and use cunning tactics. Often a few laikas distract their enemies with bowfire while others slip into ambush positions. Laikas regard biting as uncivilized, so they use their impressive teeth only in ritual combat for pack hierarchy, or when no other weapon is available. A solitary laika usually attempts to escape confrontation unless its opponent is clearly outmatched. Laika Traits (Ex): Laikas benefit from a number of racial traits. Balanced Ability Scores: A laika gains a +2 bonus to Constitution and a –2 penalty to Intelligence. Medium-Size: A laika gains no size bonus to Armor Class, attack rolls, or skill checks. Base Speed: 30 feet. Low-Light Vision: A laika can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. It retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions. Speak with Animals (Sp): Once per day, a laika can use speak with animals to communicate with canine animals such as wolves and dogs. This ability is innate to laikas. It has a duration of 1 minute (the laika is considered a 1st-level caster when it uses this ability, regardless of its actual level). Skills and Feats: *A laika gains a +2 racial bonus on Listen and Wilderness Lore checks, and it receives Track as a bonus feat. Automatic Languages: A laika speaks Common. Bonus Languages: Dwarf, Elf, Giant, Gnome, Goblin, Halfling, Kobold, and Orc. Favored Class: A laika’s favored class is ranger. A multiclass laika’s ranger class does not count when determining whether it takes an XP penalty (see XP for Multiclass Characters in Chapter 3: Classes in the Player’s Handbook). Laika Characters A laika’s level adjustment is +0. Build laika characters just as you would using any standard race from the Player’s Handbook. Category:Humanoids